Should I anneal pivot on fly pinion to straighten? (Vienna Regulator)

[Jeff Salmon]

I am working on a 3 weight Vienna by Remember and both the pivots at the pinion end of the arbor for the flys are slightly bent. Should I anneal the ends before any attempt to straighten? My experience with French clocks tells me that I should. Thoughts?

 

[new2clocks]

I am working on a 3 weight Vienna by Remember

My experience with French clocks

Jeff,

The clock is not French, it is Austrian.

The trademark 'Remember' was owned by Gebrüder Resch, the largest Austrian maker of clocks.

I am not sure if this changes anything for you, but you referenced your experience with French clocks.

Regards.

 

[Willie X]

I probably wouldn't.

If it bent slightly without breaking, it probably won't break on bending it back. Providing you take the shortest route back and only once.

Willie X

 

[Uhralt]

You can test with a file if the arbor (and pivots) is hardened. If they are, i would anneal before trying to straighten IF the bent is significant. There is no need to re-harden, a good polish should be enough.

Uhralt

 

[R. Croswell]

I agree with Willie. Accept the fact that you may have to repivot and give it a try. I'm concerned that if the temper is different from when it was bent, that it may not bent back in the same place and end up "crooked".

RC

 

[bwclock]

I agree with Willie. Accept the fact that you may have to repivot and give it a try. I'm concerned that if the temper is different from when it was bent, that it may not bent back in the same place and end up "crooked".

RC

I would not anneal. I do not anneal arbors nor pivots on any clocks, irrespective of country of origin .
BW

 

[Jerry Kieffer]

I will also agree with Willie on this and if it breaks, you will need to repivot.

However, there are less stressful methods of straightening a pivot than simply bending it. When you bend a stationary pivot you apply a high degree of stress in two small areas. In one area you compress steel and on the other side you stretch it. One method of distributing stress over the circumference, is to bend the pivot no more than required while it is rotating.

One example of this can be seen in the following link while doing a NAWCC WS-117 Lathe class in a Sherline class room. Please note that this was done on very short notice over a lunch break, and for whatever reason the spindle on the lathe appears to be running much faster than it was.
Also, all small pivots should be held in collets for this procedure not in a chuck as shown because of the very limed time.

Jerry Kieffer

 

[RickNB]

Also, all small pivots should be held in collets for this procedure not in a chuck as shown because of the very limed time.

Jerry Kieffer

Should mention that liming your time is not advisable either.

 

[Jerry Kieffer]

Should mention that liming your time is not advisable either.

I should probably explain further.

Time was not limited when demonstrating the procedure itself, since it only takes a couple of seconds with no way to limit what actions are required.

The video was a unrehearsed one time shot at the end of a lunch break, where I did not let video time limit any student time.
Thus I chose the Chuck rather than spending time changing back to collets. Actually the Chuck can be used without issue on clock pivots typically encountered on arbors the size shown in the video. However the procedure is more practical when using collets on small pivots down through watches and those where a delicate finish must be protected.

The same procedure can be used to straighten Arbors and in most of those cases the chuck is used.

Jerry Kieffer

 

[Jeff Salmon]

Thanks to all for the replies and advice. I have found that the pivots in French clocks do not like to be straightened very much, especially the thin ones. I am going to try Jerry's method and it should work fine. These are not bent very much but they would cause a problem if not corrected.

 

[Uhralt]

Thanks to all for the replies and advice. I have found that the pivots in French clocks do not like to be straightened very much, especially the thin ones. I am going to try Jerry's method and it should work fine. These are not bent very much but they would cause a problem if not corrected.

View attachment 710869

I thought you were working on a Vienna regulator, not a French clock?

Uhralt

 

[R. Croswell]

Thanks to all for the replies and advice. I have found that the pivots in French clocks do not like to be straightened very much, especially the thin ones. I am going to try Jerry's method and it should work fine. These are not bent very much but they would cause a problem if not corrected.

View attachment 710869

Interesting that the “bent” pivots appear to be smaller than the ones on the other end. Is it just the picture, or perhaps the pivots were previously turned down, or repivoted less than straight?

RC

 

[Willie X]

I would call that "very much" bent.
Willie X

 

[Jeff Salmon]

Good call on the different sizes of the pivots. The clock is an E-bay purchase and over-all it seems to be in excellent condition, and complete. It is refinishing very well. I am using this movement to replace a previously damaged movement in a client's clock that was also a marriage (movement to case), and I would not work on it. Two others had tried. There were lots of things soft soldered, some things 'glued' on. I would not work on it, and the customer is willing to have the movement replaced. I was able to buy the movement, dial, bracket, hands, pulleys at a very good price.